Hey all!

 This week has been fairly tame so far.  I was sick again at the beginning of the week, but I am alright now.  We have been going to the orphanage and have gotten two new little boys.  They are very cute and kind of mischevious.  Tomorrow we´re going out to play soccer so hopefully it will help the kids expel some energy.  This Saturday is the group birthday party at the orphanage so Liza and I are getting ready with gifties and treats for the kids. 

Things are fine around the house.  We just got the second season of Heroes on DVD so everyone has gotten pretty into that.  We have also gotten a lot of new people, including a guy that brought gymnastics rings.  He plans on hanging them on bars in the public park and doing his gymnastics.  Liza and I cannot WAIT to see this.

Next weekend, we are planning to go on an Amazon trek, but it might be shut down because more strikes are expected next week.  They are thinking Wednesday-Friday.  A 72 hour strike.  If this goes through and we can´t go to the Amazon, we might go somewhere else in Peru for a little trip.  The strikes completely shut down the whole town, so there isn´t a lot for us gringas to do on strike days.  We can´t even get to the orphanage.  So that´s what happening right now.  Some other news; we got news that we have a job for a bit while we´re in France, which is good news upon hearing about the dollar´s record breaking lows.  We´re applying for some other jobs now, but things seem to be falling into place.

Hey all!!

Cusco is a very exciting place to be right now!  Our futbol (soccer) team is doing very well in the national championships and last weekend, Liza and I went to our first game.  We loved it and have vowed to go to every game we can.  The week got particularly busy once we decided to head down to Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, for a few days. 

We returned this morning at 6:45AM from our trip.  Last Wednesday we left on an 8PM bus for an 11-hour bus ride to Arequipa.  Arequipa is a colonial city not quite as high up in the mountains.  So, we arrived there on Thursday morning around 6:30 and were picked up by some friends of the family that live there.  We went back to their house for breakfast and some rest time.  We walked in to find that we had separate bedrooms, which was a big shock considering we have slept in the same room since mid-January.  I´m not going to lie, it was weird being alone.  Anyways, we had a pretty plush living situation.  My room had a bathroom and we each had cable TVs in our rooms.  Liza even had a DVD player.  But don´t worry, we didn´t watch TV all week. 

After we took a little nap Thursday morning, we headed out into the city.  Arequipa is supposed to have the best weather in Peru.  Always 70º and sunny.  But obviously for us, is was cold and rainy all week.  We didn´t have a lot of rain at first, so we were able to walk around.  We walked over to the Monasterio de Santa Catalina, which dates back to the 1500s.  This place is an entire city block and you could definitely spend an entire day in there.  We only spent about 4 hours.  Then we moved over to the main Cathedral.  After that was the museum that had mummies and artifacts from the old Incan human sacrifices.  Then we went over to the oldest church in Arequipa and had a chance to light candles for loved ones who have passed.  We were leaving at midnight for a tour of the Colca Canyon (Peru´s answer to the Grand Canyon) so we headed home and slept until midnight.  Then, we took a 3.5 hour bus to Chivay, the town right at the base of the canyon.  There we joined a tour group and started our tour of the canyon.  On the way up we had lovely views, but when we finally got to the top, it was too foggy to see anything.  But it was worth the trip.  Once back in Arequipa, we walked around town a bit and took in a movie.  This was a real treat because there are no movie theatres in Cusco. 

 Saturday, we walked around a bit more and just tried to see as much of the city as possible.  We had another night bus back to Cusco so we rushed over to the bus depot at 8PM.  We arrived home in Cusco this morning around 7AM!

 Tonight is the Oscar party and this week is just spending time around Cusco.  Last week while we were gone, Thursday and Friday were two HUGE strike days.  Hopefully that won´t carry on into this week.  Saturday is the big group birthday party at the orphanage and we are getting excited for the kids.  We have presents for them and hopefully it will be a very special day. 

We will keep you posted!

Hey all!

Happy Valentines Day! I know you guys miss us a lot. So we did end up getting some ice cream since the last blog. Liza is 100% better and I am slowly following behind her. Now I just have runny nose and stuff. And I woke up yesterday with lots of little welts all over me. They could be bug bites, but they could also be an allergic reaction to something. Whatever. My sheets were changed so we´ll see what happens.

Today in honor of Valentine´s Day, Liza and I are going for a special lunch and then we are making cards for the kids at the orphanage. Tonight there is a special dinner at the house, and our favorite guy at the house is bringing his new Peruvian girlfriend. We cannot wait to meet her. She speaks almost no English, so it should be an interesting evening. Here in Peru, Valentine´s Day is more commonly referred to as Dia de Amistad, which means Day of Friendship. So we´re not really sure what it´s all about. I think that people just do the date thing because of all the Americans that come through. There´s also a big futbol/soccer game tonight.

This has been an interesting week at the orphanage. They are still doing all the work because of the move, so the kids´collective birthday party has been moved. We haven´t had a lot of resources so it has mainly been making origami, painting and running around. Yesterday, the kids pretended that I (Kati) was their horse/alpaca (llama) and they just kept tying me to trees and trying to jump on my back. It was cute. Or they would tie my hands and feet so I couldn´t run away. They are pretty creative. Next week, we are starting to do sports with them. We are also going to have a movie day and bake cookies. With all the construction going on, the main goal is to keep them out of the way. They are really pretty good though.

That´s it for now! We miss you all and will keep you updated!

XOXO Kati and Liza

We´ve been in Cusco for 3 weeks now and we´re really enjoying it. Our days are filled with spanish lessons, long bus rides to the orphanage, and childen.

We´ve been sick for about 33.3% of our time here, including right now. Kati has some nasal blockage and drainage and Liza has sore, achey, miserable throat pain. Kati is at a crossroads right now because she really thinks that ice cream would soothe her throat, but she doesn´t want to make the phlegm any worse (its bad, trust me).

Last weekend we went to Moray. It is an Incan ruin about 2 hours away from Cusco. The drive there was beautiful, but bumpy. The different terraces were used to experiment with crops, to see what temperature was ideal for growth.

Today, we went to lunch at La Paccha (our spanish teacher´s sister´s restaurant). It was a fundraiser for a girl that works there who wants to travel, so we felt for her.

Tonight we´re going to eat ice cream (maybe) and watch the Grammys and Heroes. We´re too scared to go outside because every Sunday, the streets of Cusco turn into a war zone. There is a city wide water balloon fight, which sounds fun… but isn´t. The weapons include BUCKETS of water, water balloons, and BAZOOKAS (which hurt a surprising amount). We´ve been attacked several times and DO NOT enjoy it.

oox

Liza and Kati